Badminton

ARTICLES ABOUT BADMINTON BY DATE - PAGE 5

Jan 4 (Reuters) - Indonesia will offer badminton players higher pay packages to encourage better performances but the incentive will come with a clamp down on discipline at the national training centre, the head of the country's association said. Gita Wirjawan, the newly appointed president of the Indonesian Badminton Association (PBSI), has promised sweeping changes in how the popular sport will be run in the country. Previously, the PBSI would divide 50 percent of sponsorship money among the players but now they stood to earn more.

Dec 21 (Reuters) - Indonesian Justian Suhandinata will run for the presidency of the Badminton World Federation (BWF) vowing to strengthen the sport's Olympic standing after a public relations disaster at the London Games. Current President Kang Young-joong of South Korea said earlier this month he would step down from the role in May after eight years spent increasing participation and developing the lucrative 'superseries' events. Suhandinata, who failed in a previous bid to head the organisation in 2001, said he expected a challenge from Malaysian Badminton President Nadzmi Mohd Salleh.

By Amlan Chakraborty NEW DELHI, Dec 20 (Reuters) - India's Saina Nehwal has kicked up a storm by retiring from a match she was on the verge of winning because of a knee injury. The London Olympic bronze medallist had reached match point against Russian Ksenia Polikarpova in the first round match at the India Grand Prix in the northern city of Lucknow on Wednesday when she decided to retire. "Even when I was playing at the Super Series Finals (in China last week), I was playing with a taped knee," the world number three was quoted as saying by the Times of India newspaper.

Dec 13 (Reuters) - Lee Chong Wei has pulled out of the World Superseries Finals in China citing injury and fatigue after badminton's world number one lost his opening group match of the tournament. Top seed Lee, who won the silver medal at the 2012 London Olympics and got married last month, lost his Group A match to China's Du Pengyu 12-21 21-16 22-20 before informing the organisers of his decision to withdraw. "I am not in good condition ... I have a leg injury coming here.

By Sudipto Ganguly MUMBAI, Nov 10 (Reuters) - India will launch a franchise-based badminton tournament next year on the lines of cricket's cash-rich Indian Premier League (IPL) with top shuttlers from across the world, the organisers said on Saturday. The Indian Badminton League (IBL) will have six city-based teams vying for $1 million purse in the June 24-July 11 event, which the organisers claimed would be the richest prize-money tournament in the world of badminton. "We accept that cricket's IPL is a great success and we are hopeful that the IBL will have the same kind of path-breaking effect on badminton," said Akhilesh Das Gupta, the president of the governing body of the sport in the country.

To prove a point once, fitness trainer Thomas Holland did a little experiment. "I had one client who loves weights and body work, jumping jacks and push-ups and all that stuff," says Holland, who works at a Richardson, Texas, gym. "I have another who runs. I made them come into a room and gave them the same workout. The runner who thought she was in outstanding shape almost threw up before she was finished. " By the same token, could the gym hound have been able to run a mile or two?

Sept 6 (Reuters) - Four South Korean badminton players sent home in disgrace from the London Olympics for deliberately throwing matches have had their six-month domestic bans lifted by the Korean Olympic Committee. Jung Kyung-eun, Kim Ha-na, Ha Jung-eun and Kim Min-jung remain suspended from the Korean national team for one year but they were now free to compete in domestic tournaments, South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported. The four women's doubles players, along with a Chinese and Indonesian pair, were kicked out of the Games last month for trying to lose matches and gain favourable draws in the knockout stages, creating the biggest scandal in badminton's 20 years as an Olympic sport.

Sept 5 (Reuters) - Indonesian badminton doubles pair Greysia Polii and Meiliana Jauhari have been hit with a four-month ban for their role in a match-throwing scandal at the London Olympics. The Indonesian pair, along with four players from South Korea and two from China, were kicked out of the Games in August for deliberately trying to lose matches. Amid farcical scenes, the players served into the net and missed easy shots in an attempt to lose their games and gain favourable draws in the knockout stages.